Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma said on Wednesday that he still opposed military intervention in Syria because a prolonged conflict in another Middle Eastern country would lead to the "decimation of our military."
"We know this could be open-ended," said Inhofe, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. "We know that an attack on Syria could have repercussions on Israel, but no one is talking about the decimation of our military.
"Today, we can afford to launch 30 cruise missiles into Syria, but we cannot ignore that such an attack on another country is an act of war," he said in a statement.
Inhofe blamed the military's dire situation on the White House's $500 billion in sequestration budget cuts scheduled for the Pentagon over the next decade.
"The state of our military today cannot afford another war," Inhofe said. "The president has decimated our military by cutting its budget by $487 billion and by putting another $500 billion more on the chopping block with sequestration.
"As a superpower, we have a responsibility to follow through on what we say and ensure the security of our allies and partners," he added. "We must also ensure our military has the means to fulfill those responsibilities. Our president has failed to live up to those responsibilities."
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